November 15, 2025, 4:54 pm | Read time: 7 minutes
We’ve awakened from our winter slumber and are looking toward spring and summer. That means it’s time to get our bodies ready for short clothing and lots of exposed skin. A goal many strive for: beautifully defined arms. To achieve this, we can choose from a variety of exercises. That’s good because variety is important for training success. Here are seven exercises you can easily do at home–no need for much space or equipment. Our tip to boost fat burning alongside muscle building: Perform the exercises in supersets.
First things first: Every body is a summer body! Everyone, regardless of their weight or appearance, should look forward to wearing airy and short clothes in high temperatures–and at the pool, lake, or sea, a bikini or swim trunks. But in reality, many people only feel truly comfortable when they’ve gotten a bit fit for the summer season. And since exercise is essential for health anyway, we want to support that with our workout inspirations. This time on offer: Seven exercises for strong arms, for which you need nothing but motivation and, if desired, weights to make them more challenging.
Overview
7 Exercises to Make Your Arms Burn
Shoulder Circles
To mobilize the shoulders, chest muscles, and upper back muscles, start your workout with shoulder circles. Begin with large circles forward, then switch directions. Then make the circling motion with as small a radius as possible, keeping the arms essentially extended to the sides–also circling in both directions.
Do 3 sets of 12 repetitions for each direction and movement radius.
If you want to intensify the exercise and have dumbbells, feel free to use them here.
Goal Posts
This exercise also shapes beautiful shoulders. Here’s how it works: Lift your upper arms to the sides, bend your forearms at a 90-degree angle. In this position, hands or fingers point forward away from the body, palms facing down. Now move the forearms toward the ground so that the palms face backward and the front of the arms face forward. Then move the forearms back up to chest height to the starting position, slowly and with controlled muscle movement. The upper arms remain in position and do not move. Then repeat the downward rotation.
Now we slightly modify the Goal Posts. In the starting position, hands and forearms point upward this time–palms and the front of the arms thus facing backward. The movement sequence is similar to the first variant. The forearms move forward so that arms and forearms point forward away from the body. Upper arms also remain at shoulder height and do not move. Then move the arms back up.
3 sets of 12 repetitions for each variant.
This exercise can also be made more challenging with a dumbbell in each hand.
Butterfly Variation
Many are surely familiar with the butterfly exercise on the gym machine, where the arms are almost fully extended and brought together in front of the chest. At home, without weights or bands, a modified form of the exercise is suitable for working the shoulders, back, and chest. To do this, lift the arms to the sides, bend the elbows upward so that the forearms and fingers point upward. Now bring the bent arms together at chest height in front of the chest so that the elbows almost touch. It’s important to tense the arm and chest muscles during the forward movement and the arm and back muscles during the backward movement, performing the movement in a controlled and slow manner.
3 sets of 12 repetitions.
Here too, the difficulty can be increased with dumbbells.
Dips in Reverse Plank
This exercise primarily targets the triceps. To do this, get on the floor with your back on the mat. Now, with bent legs and extended arms, push your body up into a reverse plank position. Important: Tense your core, including abdominal, back, and glute muscles. Hold this position and body tension, and slowly and controlled lower yourself through the bending of the arms. Do not set the buttocks on the floor, but stop just before and then use the arm extension to move the body back up to the starting position.
3 sets of 12 repetitions.
A weight plate on the stomach makes the dips an even greater challenge.
Up & Down in Plank
From the reverse plank, we now move into the classic plank (in yoga, this exercise is also called the plank). Up & Downs work by first placing one elbow on the ground, then extending the arm back up to the hand, and then doing the same on the other side. Again, it’s important that the rest of the body remains tense and only the arms perform the movement in isolation.
If this becomes too much strain on the wrists over time, you can perform the following variation: Start the plank on the forearms and now alternately briefly move onto the hand by extending the arms first on one side and then the other.
The exercise can be further simplified by not extending the legs but doing the plank on the knees.
In any variation, the exercise is challenging because it not only trains the arms but also the abs and back.
3 sets of 12 repetitions.
Push-Ups
A classic strength exercise that should not be missing in arm training without equipment: the push-up. Those who are already trained enough do push-ups on their feet; it’s easier on the knees.
We perform this exercise in two variations: once with arms positioned wide to focus on the biceps while also engaging the chest and back. Additionally, we do push-ups with arms positioned close together (palms facing forward, elbows pointing backward) to make the triceps burn.
3 sets of 12 repetitions per variant.
Mountain Climber
Since we’re already on the mat, we’ll finish the workout with two arm exercises that also challenge our endurance at the end.
Exercise number 1: Mountain Climber. Its advantage: It not only trains the arms and shoulders–and since we start from the plank position, also the abs and back, as well as the legs due to the “climb” movement–but also raises our heart rate for a short cardio peak. So get into the plank position, tense your body, and now for 30 seconds, pull your legs alternately bent toward your chest as quickly as possible. If you’re not out of breath, you’re cheating on the technique and/or not doing the exercise fast enough!
Burpees
Wait, we’re not done yet! After a short break and slight recovery, we ensure one last cardio peak with burpees. The exercise combines push-ups and jump squats and trains triceps, chest, core, glutes, and thighs simultaneously. To do this, jump from a standing position down into the push-up position. From the push-up position, jump your feet to your hands, essentially into a squat, and jump up (jump squat). Doing five to ten burpees at the end rounds off the arm workout perfectly.
Tip: Supersets
The mentioned exercises can be used to create different workouts. They are ideal for traditional bodyweight strength training with two or three-minute breaks between each set. As already mentioned in the individual exercises, some of them can also be performed with weights.
However, if you want to boost fat burning in addition to building muscle, you can structure the workout in the form of supersets. This means not performing multiple sets of one exercise but always switching between exercises with very short or even no breaks.
One option would be to do a set of push-ups, take a 30-second break, do the mountain climbers, followed by a 45-second break, and then do push-ups again. You would then do three rounds of these two exercises before moving on to the next pair combination.
This increases the training intensity for the muscles on one hand, and on the other hand, it stimulates the metabolism, which is positive for fat burning. Another advantage is the time savings in the overall training duration. To learn about other training variations in supersets, click here.